Publication:

Role of Ayurveda in integrated health system for sustainable development of global health

The current global health systems are in the midst of a massive metamorphosis to address the complicated demands of the 21st century which include; increasing non-communicable diseases (NCDs), health disparities, environmental degradation, and economical in sustainability. The failure of conventional biomedicine to effectively deal with lifestyle-related and chronic disorders has brought new international attention to traditional systems of medicine (TSM). The old Indian medical system, Ayurveda is a preventive, personalized and an eco-centric model of holistic medicine that balances a human wellbeing, and social and environmental sustainability. Its focus on balance, lifestyle management and unity of mind and body is in line with the demand by the World Health Organization (WHO) to have integrated and people-oriented health systems. The aim of this review is to discuss how Ayurveda can assist in sustaining health on a global basis by incorporation into modern health care systems. It assesses how the Ayurvedic principles, therapeutic practices, and policy frameworks can help preventive care, health equity, ecological sustainability, which follow all the objectives outlined in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The literature review was conducted in a narrative style, whereby the information was synthesized using peer-reviewed journals, WHO documents, Ayurvedic policy papers and classical text Ayurvedic. PubMed, Scopus, Google Scholar, and AYUSH research portals were used as data sources where the keywords were used using Ayurveda, global health, sustainable development, integrated medicine, and traditional medicine policy.